Blackstone Disagreement Behind Them, Songwriters Look to Senate for MMA Passage

The deal between songwriters and a performing rights organization (see 1808020053) could be the last major hurdle for passage of landmark music copyright legislation, industry representatives told us Friday. “We need to turn down the noise and try to get a bill passed right now,” said Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) Executive Director Bart Herbison Friday. A day earlier, he announced a deal with the Songwriters of North America (SONA), SESAC and the National Music Publishers’ Association for the Music Modernization Act.

The streaming industry, a major stakeholder on MMA, is on board. General Counsel Greg Barnes emailed that the Digital Media Association is encouraged by the deal “to ensure swift passage. … We look forward to continuing to work with the Senate and stakeholder community to enact this key legislation this year.”

Mitchell Silberberg's Jay Rosenthal, representing content owners, said the “train is rolling out of the station,” and both chambers must act quickly to pass the bill. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Public Knowledge oppose the Compensating Legacy Artists for Their Songs, Service and Important Contributions to Society Act (HR-3301) portion (see 1806130056). Those concerns are “minor” compared with the deal, said Rosenthal.

NSAI, SONA and SESAC endorsed an initially controversial proposal floated by Texas GOP Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn (see 1807250037) to amend the Mechanical Licensing Collective portion. The MLC establishes a royalty payment database governed by a board of publishers and songwriters with oversight from the Copyright Office. Cruz and Cornyn spoke against government eliminating vendors like SESAC from participating. With songwriters and streaming services apparently unwilling to pay potential added costs from the amendment, NSAI and SONA initially accused SESAC and parent Blackstone of introducing a poison pill to save SESAC’s mechanical rights arm.

A Cornyn aide noted Friday his boss' support for the bill during Senate Judiciary Committee markup. Cornyn and Cruz said they hope there's time to address the MLC issue.

The deal means the MLC will license only Copyright Act Section 115 mechanical royalties. PROs like ASCAP, BMI, Global Music Rights and SESAC will continue to administer and license performance royalties. ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews said Thursday there has been significant give-and-take in reaching consensus legislation: “We hope the Senate will pass it without delay.”

“We’ve had a lot of things we’ve had to work through, and this is an example,” said Herbison. “It’s just that it was public versus those other things being something we negotiated that wasn’t public. … The family’s whole again.”

Rosenthal said Blackstone’s last-minute push “scared everybody,” given the asset management company’s influence: The negotiating parties “split the world a little bit” to reach agreement. MMA passed the House and the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously, but it won’t pass this term if the House decides to deliberate over any other changes to the bill, he said. Wyden and PK concerns should be dealt with through orphan works legislation, he said, referring to artists who can't be identified or found. “I can’t believe that they would blow up the whole bill just because their little parochial view, but then again it doesn’t mean they might not try,” Rosenthal said. Wyden’s office and PK didn’t comment.